Barcelona’s city authority has granted the Antoni Gaudí-designed Sagrada Familia, which has been under construction since 1882, its first building permit.
The announcement was made by Janet Sanz, Barcelona’s deputy mayor for ecology, urbanism and mobility, who tweeted an image showing her signing the permit.
The UNESCO world heritage site now has an official permit from the local council that will allow the building to be completed.
However, it came at a cost of €4.6 million (£4.1 million) – adding to the €36 million (£31 million) that Sagrada Familia already agreed to pay city officials last year to cover municipal expenses racked up after decades of building works.

A successful MIPIM edition in Cannes closed. 26,800 people from all sectors of the international property industry with more than 5,400 investors, 560 political leaders coming from more than 100 countries. Key stats from the most successful edition yet! The date for next years #MIPIM is March 10 to 13, 2020.

Connecting real estate investors, lenders and borrowers across Europe, PERE Debt and Finance Forum 2019 (25 – 26 June 2019) in London will once again feature in-depth case studies on the latest real estate deals, analyze capital strategies and discuss private real estate across the whole spectrum. This forum is co-located with PERE Europe 2019.
The debt world is evolving as the lending market continues to diversify. Whilst banks still constitute the biggest part of the market, their dominance is decreasing as alternative sources of capital grow. This shift will continue through 2019 as lending from non-traditional sources continues to increase. At the forum insurance companies, institutional investors, traditional bank lenders and borrowers will discuss the biggest trends and latest developments in the real estate debt markets.

Asian investors, particularly those from Singapore, have the know-how, a rich experience in China’s property market and they are unlikely to be deterred from pursuing solid assets by the trade war.” said Alvin Yip, head of Cushman & Wakefield’s capital markets for Greater China.

According to SCMP Singapore companies including CapitaLand, Mapletree Investments, Keppel Land and ARA Asset Management
have been aggressively buying commercial property assets in key Chinese first-tier cities like Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou.

Europe’s 5 greenest countries ranked on progress & ambition, as a percentage vs ideal scenario: Sweden 77%, Portugal 66%, France 65%, Netherlands 58%, Luxembourg 56%. As a result Portugal is the only Mediterranean country in this ranking.

The conversation about is growing as more people are able to access data about their environment, a result of the internet of things and smart buildings.
It empowers also architects over property developers due to clients demands.
Statistic Source: Climate Action Networking Group published by MIPIM

Cities across the world are facing affordable housing challenges. One of the largest regeneration projects and developing solutions in Europe was presented by architects London.
2000 homes at King’s Cross from four-bed family homes, to student studios and supported living for the elderly.
London’s new creative quarter. Home to inspiring businesses, destination restaurants, a vibrant cultural scene and the newly opened Coal Drops Yard.

In April 2019, BIG presented Oceanix City at the first United Nations high-level Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities. (See the Presentation).
Co-convened with OCEANIX, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Ocean Engineering and the The Explorers Club,

BIG’s proposal explores the next frontier for human settlements, and the possibility of living sustainably and in harmony with life below water!
(Big is a group of architects situated in Copenhagen, New York and London)

French tourism association claims Airbnb should face same accounting, insurance and financial obligations than real estate brokerage as its services are changing the face of neighbourhoods and need to be more heavily regulated.
Airbnb, which is registered in Ireland, argues that its commercial activities in matching property owners with people seeking accommodation could not be regarded as traditional providers of real estate. France is Airbnb’s largest market after the US, and Paris is its biggest single city market, with about 65,000 homes listed.

A person from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) said the company should be regarded as a digital service provider with the right to operate freely across the EU.

Shenzhen adopts Singapore housing policy to provide more subsidized homes.
The city, known as China’s Silicon Valley and home to some of the country’s biggest technology companies Huawei, ZTE and Tencent, ranks as the fifth most expensive city globally.
It has transformed itself from a small farming town into a booming modern metropolis with more than 10 million citizens within a few decades.

Shenzhen will offer 1 million governmental subsidized homes at 30-50-60% of the prevailing market rate. They ditched the Hong Kong model, where most homes are built and sold as commercial products in the private market.

As stated Fion He (chief analyst, property brokerage Midland Holdings China), “Shenzhen’s home price has soared too high as more are using homes as a tool for asset gains.”

India is one of the World’s fastest growing economies with billions of USD planned investments across key government initiatives including the hashtag #SmartCities. Since its launch in 2015, Smart Cities India Expo has been the biggest Asian event on this topic. The Expo. runs from 22-24 May.

Copenhagen Conference with a group of 105 architects and other related professionals in the Danish metropole. One topic was Women in Architecture: turning into Leaders, the distinguished and all female panel gave great insights into the increasing diversity of architecture firm cultures. The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools of Architecture and BIG – Bjarke Ingels Group, Schmidt Hammer Lassen Architects, Henning Larsen 3XN Architects & EFFEKT.

The Vietnamese real estate market attracts investors from Asia, US and EU, thanks to the current favorable business conditions, according to Le Hoang Chau, chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City Real Estate ­Association. The foreign direct investment (FDI) in the 1stQ 2019 ­was $10.8 billion.
In 2019, segments of housing, trading centres, ­offices for lease, and especially ­industrial development and ­logistics services will increase.
As the Vietnamese government is ­limiting credits for national real estate ­developers, more joint ventures are expected.

In Spain there was a spectacular rural exodus the last couple of decades, due to the lack of opportunities to work in agriculture. Despite attempts to repopulate it, there seems to be no turning back. The result? It is estimated that there are about 3,000 villages in Spain that are abandoned, plus a high percentage of practically unpopulated villages.
Some still have a rich heritage that would be a pity to lose.
In fact, some are for sale with recovery plans that could give good results and privileges for foreign investors. The villages are mostly in the interior of Spain. A few we know are close the coastline: info@nauticproperty.com.

It starts that Millennials don’t want the same types of homes baby boomers do. Business Insider compared the habit differences. Statistically they make other lifestyle choices related to marriage, family and spending money, reported by the Wall Street Journal.

They also spend more money on health, wellness and experiences than material goods. Even they are seen as renters, they want to buy. But homes built before 2012, Mediterranean or Tuscan-style architecture are hard to sell. Clean lines, not too big and open floor plans are their choice.

Morpheus Hotel in Macau has been named best ArchDaily Building of the Year (BOTY) Awards. Video by Adrian Gaut.
ArchDaily’s readers worldwide reviewed and voted on over 4,000 projects to narrow down the list to five finalists per category and the winner is Morpheus from Zaha Hadid Architects.
The Morpheus combines dramatic public spaces and generous guest rooms with innovative engineering and formal cohesion. With 770 guest rooms, suites and sky villas, the hotel includes civic spaces, meeting and event facilities, gaming rooms, lobby atrium, restaurants, spa and rooftop pool, as well as extensive back-of-house areas and ancillary facilities. Video by Adrian Gaut.

Meet Chinese property buyers face-to-face in Hong Kong later this month, on the 30th of March 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong, Tsim Sha Tsui. The first Juwai Overseas Property Expo is a global fair showcasing properties by the industry’s finest developers and real estate agents.
The expo features 20+ investment seminars which will attract more than 300 property investors with desires to grow their investment portfolios. Juwai is one of the most trusted overseas property platform in Asia / China.

The foreign interest in Vietnam’s property market has grown significantly since the Law on Housing officially allowed foreigners to own homes in the country. End of 2018, CBRE Việt Nam revealed purchases: Chinese buyers 31%, South Korea 19%, Hong Kong 10%, Americans 3%. Most of their purchases were high-end apartments according vietnamnews.vn.
The report will help evaluate the implementation of the policy of allowing foreign organizations, individuals and Việt kiều to own homes in Vietnam.

The Monaco International Luxury Property Expo 2019 (ilpexpo.com) is an exhibition on international high-end real estate to be held 15-16 May 2019 at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco. The event format is designed to provide maximum opportunities for exhibitors and B2C visitors alike to meet each other in person. The IELP Expo is dedicated to immigration, luxury real estate and private financial consulting.
ILPE events were held around the world, including in Shanghai, Mumbai, Moscow, Kyiv, Cannes, Almaty, and Baku.

According to Transparency International, Spain has granted over the last ten years 24,095 golden visas, more than any other EU country. European residency and nationality have become luxury goods.
the Ministry for Foreign Affairs reported that the most popular locations are Barcelona and Madrid. Chinese investors topped the list. Russians, on second place, selected mostly Costa del Sol (Marbella) and the Costa Blanca (Altea).

Wealthy Russians have been major buyers of property in Paris, London, New York and other international cities. According to broker Knight Frank there were more than 1,000 luxury property sales in Moscow, with totally US $1.6 billion.
Russia has at least 189,500 ultra-high net worth individuals in the country controlling about US$1.1 trillion.
Finally Russian President Vladimir Putin is a winner from international sanctions as he has called his country’s rich citizens to bring their assets back to Russia.

China worldwide real-estate investment reached $119 billions in 2017 and $123 billion in 2018. And Greek real estate agents are smart enough to capitalize on the boom in Chinese investment.
The current low real estate prices and high demand contribute to higher returns for investors.
The net yield on the short-term rent of a renovated city centre apartment in Athens is 5–7% p.a. vs 3 % in most European capitals and there is potential of growth by 20-30 % over the next 2-3 years.
Greece offers also a “Golden Visa” program to attain EU residence by investing €250,000 euro in real estate.

Many overseas property developers and real estate agencies are failing to be seen online inside mainland China. Search Engines as well as Social Media have international and national editions or/and filters, saying this makes clear
that a search from a Western country on Baidu or WeChat as example won’t give a Chinese national result. Please check with a Mainlander from China. And if you are happily seen on Mainland this won’t drive traffic to your website.

It is known that the Canary Islands (Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria, Fuerteventura, La Gomera, La Palma) offer the best tax regime in Europe for Europeans (individuals and corporations). Blevins Franks (Financial Services, London), published
a detailed report about Tax changes in 2019 for residents in the Canaries. Read more on blevinsfranks.com/canary-islands-tax-2019

In 2016 Thailand was the sixth most popular destination for buying real estate. It climbed to third place in 2017, now it hits the first place. Following the top spot comes Australia, the US, Canada and the UK.
According to Carrie Law, CEO of Juwai.com Hong Kong / China, the top six searched cities in Thailand were Bangkok, Pattaya, Chiang Mai, Phuket, Sattahip and Samui. The top five enquired locations were Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Pattaya, Phuket and Samui with total enquiry value of €482 million. The median enquiry price was €107.000.

Reflecting on the lessons learned
• Which are the main discoveries of the past 50 years and how have these influenced our built environment?
• How is AI and big data going to inform the City of the future?
• How designers will use Smart technologies to better balance social, environmental, and economic opportunities?
• Smart Tall and Smart Cities: how can they better interact?

The panel of speakers:
• Peter Murray of New London Architecture
• Simon Giles of Tyrens London
• Carolyn Dwyer of City of London Corporation
• David Nicholl of ABB
• Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) Organized by CTBUH UK, ZHA, Viviana Muscettola and Katrin Förster. Timeframe: 17.30-20.30 on Thursday January 31, 2019. Location: Royal Institute of British Architects, 66 Portland Place, London, W1B 1AD. Tickets: eventbrite.com

The Mumbai International Emigration & Luxury Property Expo is a large-scale global conference and exhibition aimed at helping the world’s leading companies gain clients looking to buy an upscale home abroad or move to another country. The Expo is running from 16th – 17th January 2019.

Vietnamese real estate developer Vingroup (vingroup.net) with a wide range of properties, including houses, shopping malls, hotels, golf courses and hospitals is fast becoming one of the country’s most diverse conglomerates. Beside Property they are dedicated in their country to
Hospitality, Entertainment, Consumer Retail, Healthcare, Education, Agriculture, Industrial, Technology, Heavy Industry etc. Vingroup lead consumer trends introducing Vietnamese consumers. As many companies leave China because of the trade war there can be seen even more Joint Ventures in the future. See financial activities at asia.nikkei.com.

The 1st edition of the BARNES Luxury Property Show, a luxury real estate exhibition, was held on December in Paris with 1,000 guests. The event brought together BARNES collaborators from all over the world and their clients.

According to many top executives speaking recently at the Asian Real Estate Summit in Bangkok, the future of the property market will be shaped by disrupting technologies like big data, smart contracts, smart cities and Fractional Blockchain Investments.
Specially the Southeast Asian property sector is very dynamic and an example for the western market.
At the Summit Mr Krishnan (Chief Executive of PropertyGuru Group) said: “The region has more megacities than any other part of the world. There is definitely a trend for big data.”
Editors Note: As the Thailand Real Estate market has seen steady high growth in the last couple of years through an emerging middle class in cities, there are good investments available. And the first fractional investments are available on the blockchain.

The Kata Rocks Club Penthouse is now officially the “Best Apartment in the World” as judged by the International Property Awards team of 54 judges from around the world. They had entries from 110 countries.

Hainan Free Trade Zone (FTP) launched 100 construction projects with a total investment of $4.29 billion. It includes a China Shipbuilding Corp’s deep-sea testing ground in Haikou. Further 41 projects were presented by the Governor of Hainan province, Shen Xiaoming, among them the Sanya Deep Sea Science and Technology City, the SF Express Hainan port, the expansion of the CNOOC Hainan terminal, and the second phase of the Haidian Foreign Language Experimental School.

It is expected that the Hainan Free Trade Pilot Zone will show significant progress by 2020. (nm)

As the Chinese government tightened controls on investments abroad, investors have sold assets and made less deals abroad. The statistics say that Chinese investors sold $1Billion US real estate in the third quarter 2018
following the trend of the second quarter.
Through the last years Chinese investors spent tens of billions of dollars in US real estate and sometimes beyond the market prices. As it looks like the times are over and the capital will be bound in national government based growth plans. (nm)